Farmers at Makango in the East Gonja District of the Northern region have vowed to defend themselves against the destruction of their farm produce by nomadic Fulani herders.
Farmers in the area already heartbroken by a drought that caused serious damage to their crops and farmlands and have vowed to respond violently to further provocation from the herders who they accuse of shuttling cattle through the farmlands and plunging their low yields.
The farmers said the failure of rains this year at a crucial time when their crops needed enough water prevented the successful growth of crops and has put the lives of hundreds of farmers and their households at risk.
As they begin to harvest and pick out the damaged crops, they claim more than 30 hectares of farm produces have been invaded and totally destroyed by the herders.
A longstanding chieftaincy dispute in the Gonjaland has weakened efforts by the traditional authorities to tackle the situation and farmers add that police in the area have proven seemingly powerless. Many of these farmers have lost confidence in authorities and issued the threats to attack the nomadic herdsmen to drive them out.
The farmers are now armed with guns, wake up dawn and return at night just to protect the small heaps of maize and rice they have harvested.
Nurudeen Dokurugu said his ten hectare maize farm performed poorly so he would guide the yields with all his might.
He said the herders only strayed the animals into farms at night and on market days when farmers are not around and fled after grazing most of the harvests.
“There are two chiefs here in Makango so you don’t know who to report to when a fulani destroys your farm. Police also don’t care about our plight, so we are now going to defend ourselves”, Nurudeen said, adding, the chiefs are only interested in taking cattle from the herdsmen.
Another farmer identified as “Taller” hung a gun around his neck in his farmlands, cycling around a small heap of maize, told Starr News he has been sleeping in the farm for almost a week.
“If the police do not intervene, what is happening at Agogo would happen here. We are going act because last year they killed our brother but the chiefs told us to exercise restrained but this year if the chiefs and government do not stop the fulanis then there would be a full blown conflict in this area, Taller warned as he points his gun adding he was ready to use it to protect his sweat.”
The Assemblyman, Awudu Gaani Osman said the chieftaincy dispute in the community was hampering the fight against activities of the herders adding the situation was getting out of control.
He said farmers in the area feel authorities are on the side of the rampaging fulani herders saying once the people feel authorities who are supposed to provide them protection are turning against them, it is difficult to predict when they issue threatens them.
He revealed that there is widespread feeling of tensions between farmers and the headers and predict an imminent clash.
“If we don’t take certain measures there is going to be a conflict between the farmers and Fulani herdsmen. They are worrying the farmers but because of the chieftaincy issue you can’t enter into it, when you enter into it and push it to certain level you have to leave it like that.”
He repeated again that as an assembly member he was handicapped and that the situation was spiralling out of control.
“For me, at my level I’m under a chief, the land belong to the chiefs and as assembly man we help the chiefs to protect the land. Once the chiefs are there, I don’t have much power to act. I can get power if I get a support from the chief and currently I can’t tell you who is the chief because we have chieftaincy problem here, Osman Gaani lamented.
The Gonjaland has been a tinderbox of chieftaincy violence in the Northern region and tensions keep rising in many parts of the largest traditional area in the region.
A chief in the traditional area, Mantowura Alhaji Abass Dangba has warned the commission of inquiry to investigate the Yagbonwura’s behavior before deciding to give Gonjas their own region in order not to create a chieftaincy hot-spot.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Eliasu Tanko
